Hey. After the 3rd day up here in Niagara I can't believe we still have a whole nother 3 to go. It's been a blast, well most of the time. We've been going to the same place every morning, the Community Mission Center, which is a center providing aid to hundreds of Niagrans in need. What used to be a Motel back in the day, the Community Mission Center has been fixed up with a great staff and both local and far reached support (Like us). There is another group of kids helping the same center from New Hampshire who serve lunch to all the folks under the Center's care and us too since we sit companying the folks. We on the other end wake up bright and early to make breakfast for a time with kids and family every morning.
Matt Brewster
Wednesday was another full day. The second day of VBS was small in numbers, but big in the joy of new relationships. It has been fun to watch these children bond with our youth. Over lunch in the Center's dining room, two of the children insisted that Jenna sit with them and they kept the attention of other PCMK youth as well by tapping them on the shoulder and then running off.
Speaking of lunch, it was very gratifying to see our youth sitting with the clients who come to the center for a free lunch. There were genuine conversations happening between people who otherwise would have very little in common. The clients are sometimes slow to open up to conversation, but once they do we discover they are regular folks like us. The gentleman across the table from me said this was "the best restaurant in town." I'm not so sure, but it was a hearty lunch of roast chicken and instant potatoes (gravy would have been nice, but who's complaining?). He mentioned he was looking forward to the 4th of July picnic barbecue. It made me glad that we said we would help put it on this year, because otherwise they were planning to cancel it.
Pastor Dale
For a work project, part of our group cleaned up the picnic area where the 4th of July event happens. We plan to paint the tables today. In the afternoon they had us painting a busy hallway in the main building.
On Wednesday my group woke up early to make breakfast for the members of the Vacation Bible School (VBS). We made French toast, scrambled eggs, sausages, and fruit salad, and served it. Afterwards, some of the group went to do work around the shelter, and we stayed with the kids from VBS. We played games outside with them and then learned a bible story that said the world is a mustard seed. We did some arts and crafts, sang songs, then went to a lunch provided by the shelter. After that we painted the halls of the shelter which took a lot of work and was pretty difficult, but turned out looking really nice. Later we went to Fort Niagara Park with a kid from the shelter named Anthony, and went swimming in a pool and a lake. For dinner we had a cookout with hotdogs and s'mores at the park then went to Niagara Falls for our evening meeting and prayer. Overall, this was one of my favorite days of the trip so far because it was a perfect mix of work and play, and I got to meet more people that are being helped by our efforts on this trip.
-Gianina Bueti
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